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A recruiter contacted me on behalf of Company X. Company X was very interested in contacting me, and an interview was set up. Just before the interview, I was told an emergency came up with Company X, and the interview was rescheduled. After rescheduling, I receive a call from the recruiter, informing me that his contact at Company X (the person who was to interview me) has been laid off, and so the interview fell through completely.

The job posting still exists on the company's website a couple weeks later. If I am still interested in the job, what can/should I do in this situation? Should I contact someone else at the company directly? Is the company unable to initiate contact with me (I assume they have enough information to find me) due to contractual obligations to the recruiter they had previously working for them?

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    @Joe I totally agree. Unless the employee was laid off for something like taking kickbacks from the recruiter for preferential job placement, losing a contact shouldn't make the recruiter want the money for placing you there less.
    – jmac
    Commented Sep 17, 2013 at 2:13
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    @Joe That assumes that the recruiter will be honest. It might be the case that the company has terminated the services of the recruiter himself, rather than this mysterious "contact" - in which case it's in the recruiter's interest to turn the OP away towards other jobs.
    – Fiora the Ferret
    Commented Sep 17, 2013 at 8:11
  • @JuliaHayward I had thought of that, but then wouldn't the company have contacted me directly afterwards? Or are they contractually prevented from doing so?
    – bengoesboom
    Commented Sep 17, 2013 at 14:49

2 Answers 2

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If I were you, my first point of contact would be the same recruiter who contacted you initially. A simple mail saying 'I see the job posting is still active and I am interested in pursuing it. How would you suggest we go forward with it?'

The recruiter's reply should give you a fair idea of where the company stands with the vacancy. In a few days, if there is no response from the recruiter and you are still so interested in the vacancy, you could apply on the company's website for the job. Good luck.

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    +1 Absolutely go round the recruiter if they don't seem to produce any results. They will quite happily "tell" you (or happily allow you to believe) they have taken action they actually haven't.
    – Grimm The Opiner
    Commented May 31, 2017 at 9:04
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The recruiter told you that the job fell through. Therefore, you have no obligation towards the recruiter whatsoever. He isn't going to get you a job at the company, and he told you so. He won't get any payment from the company if they hire you.

Now since this all sounds a bit dodgy, I don't know what the company knows. The recruiter might have told you a story and told them another story. Weird things happen. The recruiters nephew might be interested in the job, which might explain a lot of things. The company is free to contact you (because see above), but they might not know it. Or they might have been told that you weren't interested.

You should contact them. Can't hurt. Worst case, you don't get the job. Best case, you get the job and a dodgy recruiter gets what he deserves.

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    Hi gnasher, welcome to The Workplace. Can you back that first paragraph of your answer up with something more substantial than just a claim? It sounds to me like the truth of your statement very much depends on the contents of the individual contract/agreement a recruiter has with a company.
    – CMW
    Commented Mar 14, 2014 at 19:32
  • why is the recruiter male?
    – user1084
    Commented Nov 8, 2014 at 0:07
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    @AAA If it's that relevant to you, propose an edit
    – TankorSmash
    Commented Nov 20, 2014 at 16:18
  • @TankorSmash it's relevant to half our users. I settled for a downvote and OP can fix if they want.
    – user1084
    Commented Nov 20, 2014 at 18:51
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    @user1084 I know this question is very old at this point, but the reason the recruiter is male is that the OP refers to the recruiter as male in the sentence, "...informing me that his contact...", and it is a reasonable assumption that we can refer to the recruiter as the same gender that the OP did
    – Kevin
    Commented Sep 20, 2016 at 19:03

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